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Aditya Rawal, son of actor-turned-politician Paresh Rawal, has stepped into his father’s shoes, keeping up the tradition of three-generations of association with film and theater.
Last week the 24-year-old made his Off-Broadway debut with ‘The Queen’, a play he has written which is said to be inspired by Macbeth and set in 16th-century India during the peak of the Mughal era.
The world premier of the play is being presented June 2-19 by Crystal Field, Executive Director of the Theater for the New City, one of the city’s leading Off-Broadway theaters. It is directed by Gwynn Macdonald, who has directed or produced theater, television, and radio and is the artistic director of the Juilliard alumni-founded Juggernaut Theatre Co.
‘The Queen’ is the story of Durga who is consigned to the west wing of the palace after her husband, Rajput King Amar, marries a younger woman. She battles against the loss of her beauty and relevance as she resolves to burn the palace down and avenge her husband Amar’s betrayal.
Amar, doomed to reign during the lowest phase of his dynasty must prevent the destruction of his kingdom at the hands of the Mughals using all the resources at his disposal, including his wife, Queen Durga. The 80-minute-play explores themes of power and the position of women in society, an issue that in four centuries has not lost its importance, Rawal, the playwright/screenwriter, actor and director from Mumbai, told Broadwayworld.com.
Rawal said that the characters and plot draw inspiration from Macbeth, Medea and the works of poet Rabindranath Tagore, telling the story of a strong woman who grapples with her ambitions and the limitations of social structures.
Rawal told the Theater for New York City that the character of Durga, and her story, is fictitious but is inspired by Rani Padmini, a Rajput queen who, in the 12th century, led the women of her land into a fire to prevent violation at the hands of Muslim invaders.
“I wouldn’t say that it is Macbeth set in India,” Rawal, who has appeared in theater in India as well as in Bollywood productions, said. “The similarity between the two plays is that an ostensibly powerful man is pushed to act by his wife who is, in many ways, much stronger than he is,” he said.
In response to a question as to what attracted her to the project, Director Macdonald said she have a history of working with classical plays written by women, and got into that line because for the most part classical plays by men have not offered “as many tour de force roles” for actresses nor have these plays given audiences an abundance of opportunities to see a period story set solely from the women’s point of view.
“Amazingly, Aditya has written a piece where, while all the characters are very well-developed in a small but tight ensemble, it’s the woman’s story and her choices and responses that drive the play,” she said.
‘”The Queen has been enormously satisfying to work on not only because we don’t often — if we ever — get to see this world of 16the century India on stage but also because it’s almost as rare to see a play set in a classical period where the female protagonist – indeed all the characters — are written as a real people and yet are credible as characters from many centuries ago.”
While actress Nilanjana Bose plays the role of Queen Durga, Alok Tewari, known for Brooklyn’s Finest, plays King Amar. Following the NYC run ‘The Queen’ will be mounted at the Dramellentia Theatre company in India in their 2016-17 season.
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